9 / Portraits

All Video on Demand files are protected by copyright law and are free for this streaming purpose only.
Downloading, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited. Offenders will be subject to civil and/or criminal
liability under applicable laws.

overview

Throughout history and across cultures, people have shown a fascination with faces, and in turn, with portrait representation. The depiction of an individual likeness is about identification, but more than that, it is a record of an interaction between an artist and a sitter, both of whom contribute to the portrait’s form and content. Far from being mirror reflections, portraits are complex constructions of identity that serve a range of functions from expressing power and declaring status to making larger statements about society at a given point in history.